e-Commerce Unit 1

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Unit 1 Introduction to e-Commerce
Structure:
1.1 Introduction
Learning objectives
1.2 e-Commerce or Electronic Commerce An Overview
1.3 Electronic Commerce Cutting edge
1.4 Electronic Commerce Framework
Selecting the best e-commerce framework
Electronic commerce and media convergence
The anatomy of e-commerce applications
e-Commerce applications
Multimedia storage servers
1.5 Summary
1.6 Glossary
1.7 Terminal Questions
1.8 Answers
1.9 Case-Let

1.1 Introduction
Electronic commerce, also termed as e-commerce, is a process of buying
and selling of goods or services using electronic systems. These electronic
systems can be either the Internet or other computer networks.
e-Commerce is also known as e-business. The World Wide Web plays a
major role in the implementation of e-commerce in most of the
organisations.
This unit introduces you to the concepts of e-commerce. It also helps you
understand how electronic commerce acts as a cutting edge. In this unit, we
will discuss the framework of electronic commerce and the role of media
convergence in electronic commerce. We will also discuss the different
applications of e-commerce and the anatomy of e-commerce applications.
We shall also study about multimedia storage servers.
Learning objectives
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
Describe e-commerce.
Define the e-commerce framework.
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Analyse the role of media convergence in e-commerce.
Explain the anatomy of e-commerce applications.
List the different types of e-commerce applications.

1.2 e-Commerce or Electronic Commerce An Overview
Often referred to as simply e-commerce, electronic commerce
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refers to
business that is conducted over the Internet using any of the applications
that rely on the Internet, such as e-mail, instant messaging, shopping carts,
Web services, UDDI, FTP, and EDI, among others. Electronic commerce
can be between two businesses transmitting funds, goods, services and/or
data or between a business and a consumer.
Electronic Commerce or e-commerce is the latest concept in todays
business scenario. Broadly speaking, the e-commerce business
methodology addresses the needs of organisations, retailers and
consumers to reduce the costs, while improving the quality of service and
increasing the speed of delivery of goods.
Today, e-commerce refers to buying and selling of information, products and
services through computer networks. However, in the future, it may refer to
carrying out business transactions through any of the myriad of networks
that make up the Superhighway or I-way.
Business-to-Business or B2B e-commerce is a process of conducting
electronic commerce between businesses. The e-commerce option is
exercised in many companies that carry out B2B transactions. On the other
hand, business-to-consumer or B2C is a process of conducting electronic
commerce between businesses and consumers. The best example for B2C
is electronic commerce implemented by companies such as Amazon.com,
wherein a customer is directly online to the sellers computer using the
internet. In Amazon.com, the business transactions are done both
electronically and interactively in real-time for new books.

1.3 Electronic Commerce Cutting edge
As we now know the concept of e-commerce, let us discuss how
e-commerce acts as a cutting edge in the present days business world.

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Electronic commerce can also be defined as a modern business technique,
and it acts as a cutting edge
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for business. It deals with the organisational
requirements, trade, and customers to reduce the costs while improving the
product quality and also increasing the speed of product delivery.
The traditional business scenario is varying quickly because the customers
and businesses search for flexibility to change business partners, proposals,
and networks. When deciding on business approaches, most of the
companies are looking outside and also within their organisations. These
activities include setting up private electronic connections to customers,
dealers, distributors, industry groups, and also opponents. This is done to
improve the competency of business communications, to assist in
expanding the market share, and to preserve long-standing feasibility in
today's business environment.
Numerous networks make up the Information Superhighway (I-way). The
Information Superhighway can develop this trend to another level in total. It
also facilitates businesses to exchange information. This process is done
continuously between varying customer groups, suppliers, and research
partners in both commercial and academic world on an international basis.
The importance of e-commerce is based on the truth that time is the most
essential feature. Time plays a vital role for both business and customers in
commercial markets. With e-commerce, more business dealings are
handled on the same day as very less time is spent on each deal from the
business standpoint. This will also help the customer to save more time
during their transactions. Hence, in this case, e-commerce helps in
replacing the traditional commerce technique where a single transaction
costs valuable time. With the help of e-commerce, an order is placed and
then executed through internet quickly, without any difficulty. For example,
traditional banking processes take more time whereas, at present a banking
transaction is done via the Internet and the time spent is also less. Thus, it is
proved that e-commerce is helpful to both businesses and customers, as
payments and documentation are done with better effectiveness.
e-Commerce is a more commercial and cost effective method than
traditional commerce method. This is because by using e-commerce, the

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dealers of products can save on the selling expenses, which they can use
for expanding their business. For example, Dell, a big computer enterprise
adopts such a technique to carry out their transactions using internet,
without the involvement of any third parties. Internet advertisement is
cheaper, as compared to a roadside poster or promotion through television
commercials. The total expenditure required to for business dealing in
e-commerce is considerably less than a traditional commerce method. For
example, only a head office is required to manage an e-commerce business
rather than a head office with many branches. Other than that, the
expenses for staff, maintenance, communications, and office rental is
replaced by a single web hosting for the e-commerce industry.
Connectivity plays a significant part for both customers and business
because it is the major factor which determines the entire business. From
the business perspective, e-commerce offers more improved connectivity for
its customers, as their personal websites can be accessed almost from any
place via Internet. Hence, more customers can be in touch with the
company's transactions, which results in removing the restrictions with
respect to physical location. From the customers point of view,
e-commerce is a very convenient and suitable method because:
They can look through the entire list of catalogues without any
disturbance.
They can evaluate costs between products, and brands and also
purchase from another country. This can be done while at home or at
work, without moving a single inch from their chair.
e-Commerce is more convenient for both customers and business, as online
business has less formalities compared to traditional commerce techniques.
In the international market scenario, e-commerce has given rise to various
opportunities for many companies and financiers. For example, because of
the success of e-commerce, more funds are invested in electronic
securities, internet services, business plans, and new technologies. As a
result, various e-commerce markets have evolved, improving the global
market.
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Activity 1:
List some of the innovations that you are familiar with that have emerged
since the usage of e-commerce in recent business environment.
Hint: Internet marketing
Self-Assessment Questions
1. __________ refers to business that is conducted over the internet using
any of the applications that rely on the Internet.
2. _________ e-commerce is a process of conducting electronic
commerce between businesses.
3. Numerous networks make up the ________.
4. The importance of e-commerce is based on the truth that time is the
most essential feature. (True/False)?
5. ________ plays a significant part for both customers and business
because it is the major factor which determines the entire business.

1.4 Electronic Commerce Framework
A framework can be defined as a structure for supporting or attaching
something else, particularly a support that is used as the foundation for
something being created. Hence, an e-commerce framework comprises the
set of infrastructure required for carrying out the e-commerce business. This
set of infrastructure typically includes the network requirements and the
different software applications that are for e-commerce.
The e-commerce vision summarised above assumes a series of essential
infrastructure services and values steady with a broad architectural
framework. This framework must allow flexibility, interoperability and
directness necessary for the successful development of electronic
commerce. The e-commerce framework offers a set of options to the
customers. Most of the electronic commerce plans have different strategies
for security and privacy, their skill to deal with the payments, and their
usability to different transactions. They also vary in their business models.
Such variations promote innovation and allows for supplier and customer
options. But yet, you need a broad framework to gain wide acceptance. This
includes the following requirements and peculiarities of carrying out various
business forms in this upcoming electronic environment.

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Interoperability: Electronic commerce is based on a common set of
required services and standards that allow interoperability. Service providers
and application designers use these services and standards as building
blocks. They achieve the goals and objectives of e-commerce by combining,
enhancing and customising these building blocks as per the requirements.
Maximum flexibility for innovation: The innovation in e-commerce will
grow and be established in ways that are impossible to visualise. This will
result in evolution of new services and businesses. We can already see that
many electronic marketplaces are giving rise to new openings for new
services and businesses. Existing services and products will be specified
and adapted. Hence, the electronic commerce framework plays a vital part
in adapting the changes and then later dealing with the new applications.
Information-intensive products: It is observed that the most important set
of products that are sold through e-commerce are the pure information
products. For example: electronic journals, catalogues, videos, interactive
video games, software programs, electronic coupons, and so on. They also
include electronic keys to cars, hotel rooms, storage sections, and airport
boarding gates. Some of these products can be designed or modified by a
customer. For example, customers want their own selection of articles to be
attached in an electronic book, or modify their own clothing designs. This
capability calls for a customer-driven activity a design phase, to the
purchase cycle. Hence, it is necessary to have all the activities in the
process of the transaction designing, customising, ordering, billing,
payment and distribution tightly integrated and happening simultaneously.
New revenue collecting techniques: We already know about the
traditional techniques of revenue collection, for example, payment upon
receipt, advance payment, and so on. At present, electronic commerce
supports more improved methods of revenue collection. For example, an
information product service provider will allocate the product broadly and
then charge on a usage basis -- which means charging the customer only
when the information is used. This information can be a software program, a
digital record, or an electronic key used to open and start a rental car.
Meterware is a new strategy implemented in recording and billing
customers constantly depending on their product usage. Along with
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Meterware, electronic cash and cheques also help in gaining new customers
and sharing products.
Legacy systems: The legacy systems that are prevailing in electronic
commerce field include mainframe-based agreement, paper cheques, and
payment systems, and so on. An electronic commerce infrastructure gains
success only when it allows the user to easily shift from traditional systems
to innovative, electronic systems, and applications and processes.
Transaction devices: e-Commerce dealings include different kinds of
legacy and recently formed devices, media, and systems over which
transactions take place. Hence, it is necessary that e-commerce adapts the
technologies and devices required for reaching and maintaining the mass
market.
We can conclude that an electronic commerce framework developed with all
of these needs and considerations in mind will form a strong basis for an
extremely useful and effective electronic commerce infrastructure.
1.4.1 Selecting the best e-commerce framework
Deciding on the best e-commerce framework is one of the major challenges
for any organisation. The framework should be selected based on the three
evaluation points:
Features.
Requirements.
Luxuries.
Figure 1.1 explains the three evaluation points of e-commerce framework.

Figure 1.1: Three Evaluation Points of e-Commerce Framework

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Features are those elements of the framework that make it more prominent
and clear from other offerings.
Requirements are the basic requirements of the framework that allow it to
do its work. If one among these is lost, then it becomes difficult to use a
particular framework, even with the presence of any other features.
Luxuries are the components whose presence is not so important, but they
are required to make the case for a framework that comes at a bonus price.
The luxury components add something extra to the system to make it worthy
of the premium price. The three important factors to look for in any
e-commerce framework are:
Template management.
Core framework functionality.
Search engine features.
The framework should be adaptable in order to be able to cope with future
evolution of the site and market. At the same time, it should be able to
support the existing business and make it as easy as possible.
You cannot create content that will be suitable for submission to search
engines, unless you achieve good integration with search engine
optimisation functions. Failing to do so will lead to your site creator spending
considerable time preparing submission pages instead of making use of that
valuable time for extending the site.
So long as you can balance between the cost and the benefits, it is worth
paying the extra amount to have a framework that saves you from all that
work involved in maintaining the infrastructure and processing payments.
The end result is profitability, as expensive manual work is removed from
the process.
1.4.2 Electronic commerce and media convergence
By now you must be familiar with the e-commerce framework. Let us now
discuss the role of media convergence in e-commerce.
Media Convergence
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is a process of interlinking of computing and
information technology organisations, telecommunication networks, and

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content providers from various media. These media include journals,
newspapers, music, television, radio, and entertainment software. Media
convergence conveys jointly the three Cs and they are computing,
communications, and content.
Convergence happens at two major levels:
1. Technologies: Creative content is transformed into industry-related
digital forms for delivery. This is done via broadband or wireless
networks to exhibit on various computer or computer-related devices
and also on cellular telephones to personal digital assistants (PDAs) to
digital video recorders (DVRs).
2. Industries: Companies that are spread all over the business spectrum
starting from media to telecommunications to technology, combine or
create strategic agreements. The purpose of these alliances is to
expand new business models that can yield profit from the emerging
customer expectations of availability of content.
We all are aware that there is a rapid growth with respect to usage of
electronic applications and the internet and people, all over the world, have
entered the digital age because of technological development. Most of the
media-related organisations are experimenting with new openings and
concerns - afforded by what is termed as "convergence". The act of
combining together of different media and integrating new personalised
services is both inspiring and overpowering.
The implementation of high-quality computers, changing to digital platforms,
and formation of high-speed computer networks has helped us with new
ways of doing things. The old explanations that provided division between
TV, Radio, Cable, Newspapers, and Films are gone forever. During 1990s,
there was evolution of ownership convergence which resulted in creation of
media-based multinational companies. For example, Disney, Viacom, Sony,
and so on. From the customers perspective, the Internet has also changed
our favourite delivery systems, which include newspapers that provide video
and TV that offer interactive conversations, and radio that offers web-cams.
Media convergence has a major part to play in the field of e-commerce and
information technology. Media convergence is particularly a blending of
television, personal computer, and telecommunications. This helps in
providing a high-speed Internet access, traditional television programs and
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interactive services in a single box. The convergence at a technological
level will facilitate audio, video, and data to be conveyed to customers using
a single pipeline. This pipeline may be in the form of wire which could be
cable or DSL, or may be wireless. This will help the customers to not only
access the Internet from a single box, but also access high-speed networks
through various access points including TVs, PCs, mobile phones and other
mobile devices, public booth, and home appliances.
Activity 2:
Visit http://syntaxclothes.com/ and collect information on the major
factors they consider in creating an e-commerce framework.
Hint: Template management
Self Assessment Questions
6. The _________ in e-commerce will grow and be established in ways
that are impossible to visualise.
7. ________ is a new strategy implemented in recording and billing
customers constantly depending on their product usage.
8. A process of interlinking of computing and information technology
organisations, telecommunication networks, and content providers
from various mediums is _________.
9. Creative content is transformed into industry-related digital forms for
delivery. (True/False).
10. The convergence at a ________ level will facilitate audio, video, and
data to be conveyed to customers using a single pipeline.
1.4.3 The Anatomy of e-commerce applications
In the previous section, we discussed about e-commerce and media
convergence. Let us now discuss about the anatomy of e-commerce
applications.
Currently, the best and the easiest form of interaction between businessmen
and customers is the Internet. Online buying & selling of products, which
includes websites, is gaining popularity because of rapidly advancing
technology-related concepts. Online business is developing quickly through
different software that allow customers to perform buying and selling
activities without much difficulty.

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As discussed in the previous sections, e-commerce applications comprise
multimedia content and multimedia storage servers as well as the
information delivery system, the devices that function as interfaces for
various e-commerce applications and the network service providers that
serve as access points.
1.4.4 e-Commerce applications
As you must have understood by now, a number of software and hardware
applications are used to carry out the e-commerce transactions. Some
common e-commerce applications include:
Email.
Enterprise content management.
Instant messaging.
Newsgroups.
Online shopping and order tracking.
Online banking.
Online office suites.
Domestic and international payment systems.
Shopping cart software.
Teleconferencing.
Electronic tickets.
Some of the benefits of e-commerce applications include:
Expanding geographical reach.
Expanding customer base.
Increasing visibility with the help of Search Engine Marketing.
Providing the required business information to customers.
Making the website available 24/7/365.
Building customer reliability.
Reducing marketing and advertising expenses.
Collecting customer data.
Increasing sales.
e-Commerce applications must have the skill to deal with the activities
involved in a business. Those skills include accepting and managing
payments, handling the checkout pipeline, and choosing, collecting and
distributing products to customers. Apart from these, companies use the
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applications to improve the online experience of customers and in turn
enhance customer traffic.
Electronic Payment Systems
An electronic payment system (EPS)
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is a system of financial exchange
between buyers and sellers in the online environment that is facilitated by a
digital financial instrument (such as encrypted credit card numbers,
electronic cheques, or digital cash) backed by a bank, an intermediary, or by
legal tender.
EPS plays an important role in e-commerce because it is necessary to close
the e-commerce loop, since billing and payment are the last activities in any
sales transactions. In developing countries, the underdeveloped electronic
payments system is a serious impediment to the growth of e-commerce. In
these countries, entrepreneurs are not able to accept credit card payments
over the Internet due to legal and business concerns. The primary issue is
transaction security.
Search Engines: A Search engine is a program which accesses a vast
record of information on the World Wide Web. It includes individual words in
web files and location of the files containing the words. For example, you
are the user of a search engine and you want to find a file, then type a
query. This is followed by a group of keywords connected by Boolean
connectors such as and and or. In some cases, a natural language
sentence is also used. Once you enter your query and do a search, the
search engine will throw up all the files that contain the keywords that were
used in your search. For example, the query Java & compiler will return with
the addresses of all those web files that have the words Java and
compiler.
Other commercial websites
Other commercial websites used in e-commerce include:
Anonymous remailer: It is a website which allows you to send an email
anonymously or secretly to some recipient.
Link checking sites: The site to which you submit the address of a web
page is a link checking site. It will save this address in a database and

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e-Commerce_Applications:_Issues_and_Prospects
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then at times verify if the document is still available. If it notices that a
document is not available, then it sends an email to the customer who
had requested the site to observe the document.
Archive sites: The websites that offer customers a facility to store their
files or documents at a safe location are archive sites. This site protects
against any harm being done to the computer or fear of losing some
important data. Archive sites users need to register with it using a login
name and a password. The users are then asked to follow a set of
instructions that help them to carry out the process of gathering their
files together to be sent to the remote location.
Change notification sites: Variations on link checking sites are change
notification sites. In this site, the customer is informed when the
document is altered, but not when a web document is unavailable. For
example, you visit a tourism website and when browsing, you see a
page which contains an advertisement about some holiday package to a
particular destination. With the help of this application, you can keep
abreast of any updation to that particular page.
E-mail providers: The sites which offer free email facilities, which
provide a facility of sending anonymous mail and constructing mailing
lists are e-mail providers. E-mail providers are very useful for the users
who cannot afford the usual mailing software. This site is also helpful for
frequent travellers who can visit such sites from any part of the world.
The major drawback of this site is that it is slow as compared to
conventional mailing services such as Microsoft Outlook and Eudora.
Anatomy of an e-commerce Website
Consider an e-commerce website as a storefront for products or services
that you wish to sell online. Your main task is to convert your website user
into actual customers. You must have a lot of interesting content and
products on your website to attract search engines and also to notify
potential customers.
Given below are the main parts of an e-commerce site:
Online product catalogue is the main place used to store and handle
the information about products or collection of products.
Shopping cart is a commonly used interface that customers apply to
pick products that they want to purchase. The shopping cart helps in
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maintaining information about the products that your customer wishes to
buy and also support them with the checkout process.
Checkout system gathers required payment details from the customer,
which also include shipping & billing addresses, credit card details, or
other payment mechanism details. It may also be organised to present
shipping rates, taxes, vouchers, or estimate other variations to arrive at
the final cost.
Payment gateway is a protected service that moves payment and credit
card details from your website to a merchant account assigned by a
bank or financial organisation that deals with online transactions. It also
handles any response or the feedback that is got from the bank, for
example, when a customer has inadequate funds or is using an invalid
credit card.
Merchant account is a special bank account that permits your website
to allow online payments to be done through credit or debit cards. The
banks that have merchant account facility charge changing fees per
transaction and transaction types.
Fulfilment is when the order is worked through e-commerce website
and then results in a completed order that is shipped out.
1.4.5 Multimedia storage servers
Due to recent advancement in communication and technologies, it has
become possible and economically practical to offer online access to
various information sources such as books, magazines, pictures, video
clips, and scientic data. The planning of such services includes providing
multimedia storage servers that are linked to customer sites with the help of
high-speed networks. Customers of such services are allowed to recover
multimedia objects from the server for real-time playback at their own sites.
Moreover, the recovery can be interactive, which means that customers may
stop, break, continue, and also record and correct the media information if
they have the consent to do so.
The design of such multimedia services varies considerably from traditional
text/numeric storage and recovery services. This is because of two basic
features of digital audio and video:
Real-time storage and retrieval: Both audio and video media are
repeatedly referred to as continuous media (CM). This is because they
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consist of a series of media quanta, for example, video frames or audio
samples which communicate the meaning only when accessed
constantly in time. Additionally, a multimedia object usually includes
some media constituents whose playback is temporally coordinated.
Large data transfer rate and storage space necessity: Playback of digital
video and audio transfer data at a very high rate. Therefore, a
multimedia service has to give useful mechanisms for storing,
recovering, and controlling data in huge quantities at high speeds.
As a result, the crucial components in the design phase of such multimedia
services include:
Multimedia storage servers that help in supporting continuous recovery
of media information from the storage subsystem.
Network subsystems that guarantee synchronous and appropriate
delivery of media information to the display sites.
Some of the multimedia objects include images, text, audio, and video.
Multimedia storage servers assist in providing access to these multimedia
objects. The design of such servers primarily varies from usual servers
because of:
Real-time storage and retrieval requirements.
Large storage space and data transfer rate needs of digital multimedia.
There is development of various multimedia applications because of rapid
progress in the fields of communication, compression technology, and also
Internet. Examples for such applications are interactive multiplayer games,
distance education, online virtual worlds, and so on.
These applications vary from the usual applications in two ways and they
are:
1. Firstly, they provide storage, transmission, and processing of
heterogeneous data types which include text, image, audio, and video
that vary in their features (for example, size, data rate, real-time
requirements, so on).
2. Secondly, different from conventional best-effort applications, these
applications require varied performance requirements for example,
regarding timeliness on the networks and operating systems.

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Activity 3:
Make a list of some common e-commerce applications that you are
familiar with.
Hint: Online shopping and order tracking
Self Assessment Questions
11. A ________ is a program which accesses a vast record of information
on the World Wide Web.
12. A website which allows you to send an email anonymously or secretly
to some recipient is ________.
13. The site to which you submit the address of a web page is _________.
14. ________ are very useful for the users who cannot afford the usual
mailing software.
15. _________ is a protected service that moves payment and credit card
details from your website to a merchant account.
16. ________ are linked to customer sites with the help of high-speed
networks.

1.5 Summary
Electronic commerce or e-commerce deals with purchasing and selling of
products or services via electronic systems. These electronic systems are
mostly in the form of Internet. There are different names given to electronic
commerce, which include e-commerce and or e-business. The Internet has
been extremely helpful in carrying out trade electronically.
The traditional business situation is changing quickly as the customers and
businesses search for flexibility to change business partners, plans, and
networks. The companies are searching for activities outside and also within
their organisations to decide on business strategies. These activities include
setting up private electronic connections to customers, dealers, distributors,
industry groups and also opponents. Electronic commerce plans have
different approaches for their security and privacy, their ability to handle
payments, and their usability to different transactions. They also vary in their
business tactics.
The e-commerce framework comprises the exclusive hardware and
software requirements that make the business transactions happen on the
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Internet. It includes some specific applications like search engine, online
payment applications, online shopping carts and so on.
Media convergence plays a crucial role in e-commerce and information
technology. Media convergence refers to a merger of television, personal
computer, and telecommunications into a single box. This facilitates the
users to have high-speed Internet access, traditional television programs,
and interactive services in a single application. Multi-media servers play a
very important role in e-commerce, as they are required to store and
transform all forms of information like data, voice, music and video.

1.6 Glossary
Term Description
Anonymous Having no recognition, name, identity, or known source
Convergence The occurrence of two or more things coming together
Interoperability The capability to exchange and use information
Peculiarity A weird or strange feature
Teleconferencing

A meeting of people who are in different locations held using
telecommunications equipment as closed-circuit television

1.7 Terminal Questions
1. Explain briefly how e-commerce acts as a cutting edge in todays
business world.
2. Explain any three requirements needed to create a broad e-commerce
framework and also to perform various business activities.
3. Explain briefly the role of media convergence in e-commerce.
4. List some common applications related to e-commerce.
5. Explain briefly any three commercial websites.
6. Explain the main parts of an e-commerce site.

1.8 Answers
Self Assessment Questions
1. Electronic commerce
2. Business-to-Business
3. Information Superhighway.
4. True
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5. Connectivity
6. Innovation
7. Meterware
8. Media Convergence
9. True
10. Technological
11. Search engine
12. Anonymous remailer
13. Link checking site
14. E-mail providers
15. Payment gateway
16. Multimedia storage servers
Terminal Questions
1. Refer section 1.3 Electronic Commerce Cutting Edge.
2. Refer section 1.4 Electronic Commerce Framework.
3. Refer section 1.4.2 Electronic commerce and media convergence.
4. Refer section 1.4.4 e-Commerce applications.
5. Refer section 1.4.4 e-Commerce applications.
6. Refer section 1.4.4 e-Commerce applications.

1.9 Case-Let
Patrick Allis International: Serving multiple customers
Patrick Allis International is the worlds leading designer and distributor of
clothing, accessories, and perfumes. The products are sold in
departmental stores, and also online and in the companys own retail
stores. Before Patrick Allis International thought of starting a new online
presence, it already had a brochure website. But this site had many
issues which included outdated and useless design and images,
branding problems, and also lacked interactivity. It was very difficult to
revise and update the site because there was no integrated content
management system. Hence, this demanded Patrick Allis to create a new
online presence to have a proper interaction with visitors, financiers, and
also job seekers. Hence, they consulted Trinity Partners to find the
solution for this problem.
e-Commerce Unit 1
Sikkim Manipal University Page No. 19
Solution:
Trinity Partners initiated the process with an established Website
Requirement Specification (WRS) stepwise approach and methodically
implementing research & strategy, designing and information
architecture.
Both Patrick Allis International and Trinity Partners defined all the goals
for the new site which included enhancing the customer experience,
improving the interaction with various customer groups, and also
competently promoting the companys multiple brands.
Then Trinity Partners designed the new site, setting up a clear, user-
friendly navigation, and also creating attractive visuals, with stylish flash
images to give an aesthetic look for advertisements.
Success:
Patrick Allis International now has developed an influential online
communication tool it had imagined. This in turn has helped in improving
the interaction with visitors, financiers and job seekers. It has also helped
in increasing the brands visibility and also enhancing recognition.
Questions:
1. What were the problems faced by Patrick Allis International from the
companys brochure website?
Hint: Outdated and useless design and images.
2. What were the goals defined by both Patrick Allis International and
Trinity Partners for creation of new site?
Hint: Enhancing the customer experience.
http://www.ecommercepartners.net/Case-Studies/Perry-Ellis.shtml
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_commerce
http://www.e-commerceprogram.com/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1425043/media-
convergence